Peter Vogel Interview On The Fairlight CMI App

In a new interview at Palm Sounds, Fairlight CEO Peter Vogel has this to say about the upcoming Fairlight CMI app for iOS:

A lot of the classic hardware manufacturers already have brought out mobile apps. The Fairlight app is quite different from anything else I’ve seen, as it’s designed to emulate the original user experience, taking the user back to a time before the mouse was available, let alone touch screens.

The Fairlight app’s been described as part adventure game, part musical instrument, and part history lesson.

Part adventure game, part musical instrument, and part history lesson. This is what I found interesting about the app when I talked with Vogel at NAMM.

They could have made a cheap sample playback app with Fairlight sounds. Instead, they are recreating the experience of using the Fairlight CMI as an iPad app.

They are making an app for synth freaks, fascinated by the computer music instruments of the 80s. And they are taking the risk that there are enough synth freaks around to make an app like this viable.

Not a safe bet – but not a boring one, either.

What do you think about Fairlight’s decision to make a more complex application, with a more limited audience, vs making a cheaper sample playback app?

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6 thoughts on “Peter Vogel Interview On The Fairlight CMI App”

How much is it? $149? Not a lot of people know what a Fairlight is, let alone want one in their iPads, and those who do can certainly spare the dough. It is definitely up there in my top 5 list of reasons for buying an iPad in the first place.

I think it's a ridiculous move. There are better instruments for less money, so the one and only thing going to them is the nostalgia factor. I bet there are not enough people who want to pay premium price for nostalgia to even justify the cost of development.